Will RMAC get hurt by growth spurt?

The already-vast Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference expanded its membership Monday by one school.

Joe Folda

With the addition of South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, the RMAC has grown to 15 members in four states. And these member schools cover a distance of 1,150 miles at its longest road trip.

The Chieftain also has learned that the RMAC has invited another school into the conference. That invitation, which would add another state to the geography, has not been accepted yet.

Let the scheduling nightmares commence.

“It’s evolving, that’s for sure,” CSU-Pueblo Director of Athletics Joe Folda said. “We now have 15 really good schools and it would be nice to get a 16th team so we would have an even number.

“This is the RMAC. And you’re going to travel in our conference.”

For sports trying desperately to find nonconference opponents, the addition helps. For those programs that bolster their national presence by playing a tough nonconference schedule, more RMAC members reduces those opportunities.

The addition of the Hardrockers could dramatically change the scheduling landscape of the conference.

Tech, located in Rapid City, makes 11 the number of RMAC schools with football. Teams may play 11 regular-season games, so their nonconference schedules will be reduced by one beginning in fall 2016.

“We could add an affiliate member so all of our games would be in conference, or we could keep one open date for a nonconference game,” Folda said. “We still have one open date (for the upcoming season) and we’ve been trying to fill it for two months. It’s hard to get nonleague games that are close.”

CSU-Pueblo head football coach John Wristen agreed with Folda, saying that it is difficult to schedule nonconference games regionally. And he doesn’t worry about the conference’s strength of schedule.

“That’s a year-by-year thing. Some years, the conference is good from top to bottom. Other years it’s not,” Wristen said. “Our conference is getting better and better.”

There also is the matter of travel. With three teams relatively close in proximity, road trips for teams that play multiple games in a week may be modified.

“It would make sense for us to play at Chadron, Black Hills and South Dakota Tech all on the same road trip,” Pack volleyball coach Jen Gomez said. “The RMAC is such a big conference that the athletic directors might have to get creative when it comes to scheduling.”

A 16-team conference most certainly would be divided into divisions or even quadrants, Folda said.

“There are lots of ideas out there about scheduling. Some of them could even reduce travel,” Folda said.

A decision from the 16th school, Folda said, could happen in the next two weeks.

COSTUME PARTY: No, it’s not Oct. 31, but the ThunderWolves are having a costume party Friday night at Massari Arena. The Pack plays host to Chadron State in a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader and fans are encouraged to celebrate Halloween 10 months early (three months late).

There will be prizes — gift cards, wireless speakers, T-shirts — for fans in the best costumes.

On Saturday, the first 250 CSU-Pueblo students in the door at Massari for the Pack’s twin bill against Black Hills State will receive a free T-shirt as part of the school’s Red Out night.